38) Jim L. Mora (Connecticut): I like him and think he’s done an underrated job at Connecticut, after not doing a terrible job at UCLA (though my view on that may have something to do with my derision for UCLA) and especially like how awesome his teams block. But ultimately he just hasn’t succeeded in college at the level I think it would be a good bet.
39) Dan Mullen (UNLV): I wrestle with this. I don’t think anybody is asking for it and the Stanford fit seems laughable given the personality and drama but I think Mullen is a pretty good coach. He already succeeded with a turnaround at Mississippi State and he has the pretty impressive distinction of doing a pretty good job at two different SEC schools (six ranked teams including two New Year’s Six teams), a higher degree of difficulty than even what we’d ask him to do. He ended up not lasting because Florida expectations are super high, but he is good. His mentor, Urban Meyer, is not only one of the greatest coaches ever but swears by him. It would be a shocking, bizarre fit but dude is a good coach so maybe? I would be more interested if his return to coaching at UNLV were going better (he’s 6-2 but I’m not impressed by the computer ranking).
40) Jimmy Rogers (Washington State): I don’t feel like I have a good read of him but he was spectacular at South Dakota State and if Luck’s heard good things I’m open-minded.
41) Glenn Schumann (Georgia DC): Sparkling resume having been on the best defensive staff in the sport for the last decade and in charge of it for the last several years. Hotshot 30-something coordinators can be supernovas to bet on when they radiate competence and learn at the feet of the masters, and in Schumann’s case he has spent the last decade and a half soaking up Saban and Smart’s brilliance. He’s never run the show himself, which is always a risk, and his environments have been very incomparable to Stanford, but he’s a star and it would be interesting to see if he could follow in Lanning’s shoes doing big things out West.
42) Tavita Pritchard (Washington Commanders QB coach): He may be the perfect person for the job some day but I don’t think this is the time to hire somebody who has never been a head coach or real (playcalling) coordinator at any level. He fits with the institution but not with what we need right now. There needs to be urgency around this hire and we can’t afford white flags, political correctness, or on the job training. This could be where we’re going and if so I think there is a theory of the case for why it could work, but as you can see above there are plenty of people I’d be more excited about. I have discussed pros and cons on him at length on the Talking Trees podcast and on the boards so will just leave it there.
43) Matt Entz (Fresno State): A coach doing an ok job at an FBS program so close to us who has been spectacularly successful in FCS (two national championships and a runner-up at North Dakota State) is going to be in the conversation. I like the idea of having a defensive-oriented coach who will feed into the tough identity we aspire to. But something about this doesn’t feel right to me.
44) Ricky Rahne (Old Dominion): Thin resume and it took him a while to get Old Dominion going but his trajectory has been impressive. Learned under James Franklin and Bill Snyder and has solid offensive Xs and Os chops. I think this could be a good coach for somebody else but I don’t see it for Stanford.
45) Ken Niumatalolo (San Jose State): I feel like he will be mentioned often enough and is so close by that we have to address but to be honest that’s the only reason I’m mentioning him. He did enough at Navy (109-83 with 11 bowl appearances and two ranked teams) that administrators would point to pride at a track record of winning the right way, and so far at San Jose State he has been competent. There is nothing that would excite me about this.
46) Jeff Traylor (UTSA): Oft-mentioned G5 guy who will make more sense for other jobs and I don’t see making any sense for us. He’s on such a stark declining trajectory over multiple years that I am now starting to wonder if he’s overrated (including by me previously).
47) Jerod Mayo (unemployed): Former NFL head coach but only one year (4-13) so doesn’t have the full package of coaching knowhow, name recognition, organizational ability, network, etc. NFL superstar player, coaching protege of Belichick, and former health care industry (VP of Business Development for UnitedHealth Group's Optum division) and tech industry angel investor who in many ways is out-of-central casting for the Stanford milieu but doesn’t have coaching chops.
48) Kelvin Sheppard (Detroit Lions DC): I was today years old when my research uncovered that a former teammate of Andrew Luck’s in Indianapolis (albeit for only one year, but we know one year with the Colts can lead to working with Luck at Stanford) is the defensive coordinator of one of the top teams in the NFL. Sheppard’s college ties are all LSU, including a year as their director of player development in between his NFL career and his Lions coaching, but this playing connection with Luck is intriguing to me and I wonder if a conversation with the Lions' passing game coordinator would make this more or less likely.
49) Lance Taylor (Western Michigan): I don’t think we should hire a 15-19 one-stop G5 coach but Taylor does have three hallmarks that mean a lot to me. He’s got the trajectory thing going on where each year has been an improvement. His teams tend to block well. And he has apprenticed for quite an assortment of bosses in Nick Saban, Jerry Moore (Hall of Fame FCS coach for those who don't know), Rex Ryan, Ron Rivera, David Shaw, and Brian Kelly. Taylor is not ready for a Power Four job but maybe some day.
50) Jeff Monken (Army): He gets mentioned all the time because Army is Army and people love to fetishize a supposed synergy between service academy experience and coaching Stanford Men, but this does nothing more for me than Niumatalolo. This is the third time in four years Army is a squarely .500 team. This is not who I would hire.
39) Dan Mullen (UNLV): I wrestle with this. I don’t think anybody is asking for it and the Stanford fit seems laughable given the personality and drama but I think Mullen is a pretty good coach. He already succeeded with a turnaround at Mississippi State and he has the pretty impressive distinction of doing a pretty good job at two different SEC schools (six ranked teams including two New Year’s Six teams), a higher degree of difficulty than even what we’d ask him to do. He ended up not lasting because Florida expectations are super high, but he is good. His mentor, Urban Meyer, is not only one of the greatest coaches ever but swears by him. It would be a shocking, bizarre fit but dude is a good coach so maybe? I would be more interested if his return to coaching at UNLV were going better (he’s 6-2 but I’m not impressed by the computer ranking).
40) Jimmy Rogers (Washington State): I don’t feel like I have a good read of him but he was spectacular at South Dakota State and if Luck’s heard good things I’m open-minded.
41) Glenn Schumann (Georgia DC): Sparkling resume having been on the best defensive staff in the sport for the last decade and in charge of it for the last several years. Hotshot 30-something coordinators can be supernovas to bet on when they radiate competence and learn at the feet of the masters, and in Schumann’s case he has spent the last decade and a half soaking up Saban and Smart’s brilliance. He’s never run the show himself, which is always a risk, and his environments have been very incomparable to Stanford, but he’s a star and it would be interesting to see if he could follow in Lanning’s shoes doing big things out West.
42) Tavita Pritchard (Washington Commanders QB coach): He may be the perfect person for the job some day but I don’t think this is the time to hire somebody who has never been a head coach or real (playcalling) coordinator at any level. He fits with the institution but not with what we need right now. There needs to be urgency around this hire and we can’t afford white flags, political correctness, or on the job training. This could be where we’re going and if so I think there is a theory of the case for why it could work, but as you can see above there are plenty of people I’d be more excited about. I have discussed pros and cons on him at length on the Talking Trees podcast and on the boards so will just leave it there.
43) Matt Entz (Fresno State): A coach doing an ok job at an FBS program so close to us who has been spectacularly successful in FCS (two national championships and a runner-up at North Dakota State) is going to be in the conversation. I like the idea of having a defensive-oriented coach who will feed into the tough identity we aspire to. But something about this doesn’t feel right to me.
44) Ricky Rahne (Old Dominion): Thin resume and it took him a while to get Old Dominion going but his trajectory has been impressive. Learned under James Franklin and Bill Snyder and has solid offensive Xs and Os chops. I think this could be a good coach for somebody else but I don’t see it for Stanford.
45) Ken Niumatalolo (San Jose State): I feel like he will be mentioned often enough and is so close by that we have to address but to be honest that’s the only reason I’m mentioning him. He did enough at Navy (109-83 with 11 bowl appearances and two ranked teams) that administrators would point to pride at a track record of winning the right way, and so far at San Jose State he has been competent. There is nothing that would excite me about this.
46) Jeff Traylor (UTSA): Oft-mentioned G5 guy who will make more sense for other jobs and I don’t see making any sense for us. He’s on such a stark declining trajectory over multiple years that I am now starting to wonder if he’s overrated (including by me previously).
47) Jerod Mayo (unemployed): Former NFL head coach but only one year (4-13) so doesn’t have the full package of coaching knowhow, name recognition, organizational ability, network, etc. NFL superstar player, coaching protege of Belichick, and former health care industry (VP of Business Development for UnitedHealth Group's Optum division) and tech industry angel investor who in many ways is out-of-central casting for the Stanford milieu but doesn’t have coaching chops.
48) Kelvin Sheppard (Detroit Lions DC): I was today years old when my research uncovered that a former teammate of Andrew Luck’s in Indianapolis (albeit for only one year, but we know one year with the Colts can lead to working with Luck at Stanford) is the defensive coordinator of one of the top teams in the NFL. Sheppard’s college ties are all LSU, including a year as their director of player development in between his NFL career and his Lions coaching, but this playing connection with Luck is intriguing to me and I wonder if a conversation with the Lions' passing game coordinator would make this more or less likely.
49) Lance Taylor (Western Michigan): I don’t think we should hire a 15-19 one-stop G5 coach but Taylor does have three hallmarks that mean a lot to me. He’s got the trajectory thing going on where each year has been an improvement. His teams tend to block well. And he has apprenticed for quite an assortment of bosses in Nick Saban, Jerry Moore (Hall of Fame FCS coach for those who don't know), Rex Ryan, Ron Rivera, David Shaw, and Brian Kelly. Taylor is not ready for a Power Four job but maybe some day.
50) Jeff Monken (Army): He gets mentioned all the time because Army is Army and people love to fetishize a supposed synergy between service academy experience and coaching Stanford Men, but this does nothing more for me than Niumatalolo. This is the third time in four years Army is a squarely .500 team. This is not who I would hire.